Barry Stamps Political Diary

The dangers of the A518 are well known to everyone in the area. Over the last year the number of accidents on the road has grown steadily. However despite this the County Council seem reluctant to do anything to improve the situation. Now another problem has arisen – more and more cats-eyes are failing. This means many stretches have little or no centre line markers. As the bad weather took a real hold last week the problem was really noticeable. Frost and fog made driving on the road even more dangerous, but the poor visibility really highlighted the lack of cats-eyes. Even I found myself wandering across the white line as I drove between Haughton and Gnosall despite the fact I use the road daily and thought I knew it like the back of my hand!

I've already raised the issue with the County Council and have asked them to take immediate action to replace the faulty reflectors, but I’m not holding my breath. My real worry is that unless they do take action now a really nasty accident could occur especially as the weather-forecasters are predicting a really bad winter!